Level 1 Is A “Just Do This”Course

The CORE Ranges Level 1 cash-game course is designed to get you playing the great game of NLHE (no-limit hold’em) with minimal fuss. Poker is fundamentally a math-based game, but with our ranges and strategy you can become a solid winner at small stakes without having to get deep into the math.

In what follows, we provide a series of default strategies for the most common situations in NLHE. These strategies are hard to beat and, perhaps surprisingly, simpler to execute than many of the strategies employed by the typical losing poker player.

The complete game of NLHE cannot be simplified with just these strategies. They will, however, provide a powerful foundation that will put you far ahead of the average small-stakes player.

In NLHE, your entire strategy stems from your preflop play, so we have provided you with ranges for the most common preflop scenarios. Specifically:

• Which hands to open
• Which hands to call a raise and which to 3-bet
• Which hands to isolation raise and which to limp behind

Spoiler: by the time you complete this material, we confidently predict you will be doing a lot less calling and limping behind than you are now.

With this solid foundation, you’ll be equipped to move on to the remainder of CORE, and the increasing complexity that the multitude of postflop scenarios can bring.

Please note that if your primary interest is in NLHE tournaments, we recommend you first check out the

MTT push-fold ranges in Level I

and the

Level IV course that presents a simulated tournament.